Public services are best delivered by directly employed workers with the resources needed to serve their communities, delegates have been told at SIPTU’s Public Administration and Community (PAC) Division Biennial Conference in Galway today.
Addressing the conference, SIPTU’s PAC Divisional Organiser, Brendan O’Brien, said: “Public services are strongest when they are delivered by skilled, directly employed workers who are properly resourced for the communities they serve.
“One of the common themes running through much of our work over the last two years has been the importance of protecting direct labour and resisting unnecessary outsourcing. Across the Division, members have consistently highlighted the need to retain skills, expertise and service capacity within their organisations.”
Turning to local authority services, O’Brien said: “As a country, we continue to face significant housing challenges and increasingly serious challenges arising from climate change. Meeting those challenges requires properly resourced local authorities, with the staffing, expertise and direct labour capacity required to respond effectively.
“It means ensuring that housing maintenance teams have the resources needed to maintain housing stock and meet the needs of tenants. It means ensuring that local authorities have the direct labour capacity to respond to severe weather events, flooding and the increasing demands being placed on local infrastructure and public services.”
Highlighting a successful campaign against outsourcing in the education sector, O’Brien added: “One notable example has been the successful campaign to bring security services at Trinity College Dublin back in-house.
“That achievement showed that organised workers can successfully challenge outsourcing and make a positive case for direct employment. It was a significant victory not only for the workers involved, but for the wider principle that essential services are best delivered by directly employed staff who are fully integrated into the organisations they serve.”
O’Brien concluded: “If we continue to support direct labour, challenge outsourcing and build strong workplace organisation, we will be well placed to meet whatever challenges lie ahead.”